


Symmetry

by anonymousComrade



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-25
Updated: 2012-08-25
Packaged: 2017-11-12 20:25:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/495316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymousComrade/pseuds/anonymousComrade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yet another Karezi fic about their moment and the rooftop hug. Written for round 3 of the HSO.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Symmetry

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow, I found the time to crank this out while I wrote code for Team Karkat<3Terezi's collab round entry, and it probably shows because I don't actually think this is all that great. We did end up using this though so maybe I'm wrong!
> 
> This was for round 3, the prompt was "balance" I think. Honestly the HSO was kind of a blur because I spent literally the entire Shipping Olympics writing our game except for the time it took to write this.

Slowly, your arms wrap around her frame.

You don't know what Terezi was doing on your planet. You aren't even really sure how she found your hive. She drinks in red like Gamzee downs his sopor and the Land of Pulse and Haze is absolutely drenched in it. Three sharp knocks on your door signaled her arrival and you considered not opening the door, but you knew better.

"Terezi, what are--", you said. And her reply was to clasp her hands behind your head and kiss you before you could go any further with that statement. A smile forms on her lips and she pulls away just as suddenly. Her motives are utterly confounding, and you tell her as much! But she laughs it off, that giggly, toothy laugh that somehow, you have become accustomed to over the course of the game.

Well, of course you've gotten used to it. She's your second-in-command, or is she more than that? Terezi Pyrope is easily the most difficult puzzle you've ever tried to work out.

A crash from above, and her expression changes to mild annoyance. Imps in your respiteblock a-fucking-gain, you're sure of it. Your sickle materializes in your hand as you rush up the stairs, Terezi not far behind. The little shits have been getting bolder and it's starting to piss you off. You throw the door open and this time, they've really caused a ruckus. Your husktop lies broken on the floor, your recuperacoon tipped over, slime coating most of the floor, and six assholes are laughing at you.

You are so fucking done with this bullshit.

"Oh, HELL no," you cry, as you charge the nearest one. You bring your sickle round and bury the sharp tip in its temple as it explodes into grist and health pickups. The head of Terezi's spear cane catches another unaware. A third circles around you and leaps at your back while you attempt to attack the fourth, its greasy hands constricting your throat. You see the point of Terezi's cane launch toward you and you instinctively flinch before it sails past your head and strikes your aggressor, knocking it off you. You give it a good punt to the ribs to finish it off.

Terezi kicks an imp, knocking it down and sending it rolling into the other two, scoring two knockdowns. Quickly, you step and slash and your sickle cleaves effortlessly through the body of the first. The two remaining imps glance at each other before scrambling to get up and escape through the open window. The furthest one makes it. The one closer to Terezi is ensnared by the chains of her cane.

You decide to take the opportunity and cut the underling down. The final imp peeks through the window and you point your weapon at him. "Tell your friends!" you taunt as the terrified creature runs away.

You look around your respiteblock and swear under your breath. You'll have to alchemize a new computing device after you mop up all the slime.

"I think we got most of them," Terezi says, as she loops her arm around yours.

"Yeah, I think so," you reply, trying not to sound nervous at the thought of physical contact.

You suppose you owe Terezi some measure of thanks, but before you can say anything, her foot slips in a puddle of sopor, sending the both of you crashing to the floor. She laughs at you, sputtering and cursing and spitting sopor and trying to get her off of you but she has you pinned to the ground and her face is so close to yours and suddenly maybe you think the floor is a good place to be.

You're pretty sure you could get used to this.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

You will never get used to this.

Maybe you owe her an apology? But Vriska is dead, her blue blood staining the hidden blade of your cane, and it is far too late for words. You fight the urge to be sick. It is unbecoming of a legislacerator. But who are you kidding? You are no lawman. Justice implies an emotional detachment, and your actions were half-borne of simple fury at Vriska's actions. You keep telling yourself it was for the good of all of you.

You aren't very convincing, you note, with a sigh.

Such a simple thing it was, the execution. Vriska knew you, too well for her own good. She had counted on you upholding your end of the vow, to let her go should luck find for her. She never believed, not even for an instant, that you would be capable of going back on your word, and that unwavering belief in your principles led to her downfall.

You delivered your ultimatum; a coin flip in your favor means she stays, and in hers, she is free to go. Of course, the coin came up heads. But you had no intention of allowing Vriska to challenge the demon. As the Seer of Mind, you knew the steep price for victory, and knowing how important the meteor and its inhabitants would be to the maintenence of the timeline, you could not simply let Vriska escape.

She never saw it coming. A foot of steel, between the sixth and seventh vertebrae, severing the main artery of her cardiovascular pump. The fact that she barely had time to feel it before she died is little comfort to you. Another fallen comrade, another dead teammate.

You are so fucking done.

You turn to leave, to escape, to be anywhere on this godforsaken rock but here. Three careful, deliberate footsteps ring out in your auditory channels and you realize you are not alone. "Terezi, what..." is all you make out of his voice, and you think he must be horrified. If your last conversation with him is any indication, Karkat is so very tired of finding dead friends, and another slain at your hand is likely to break him.

You never wanted him to know. You wanted him to think better than this of you. You suppose this was unavoidable.

You don't know what brought Karkat to the roof of the facility. You aren't really even sure how he found you. His terror at all the death surrounding him like slime in the cocoon left him a frayed mess, unable to cope with the sheer insanity of the team breaking down so efficiently, so quickly. Madness surrounds you in the void. You think you would not be able to blame him for finding you despicable.

But slowly, his arms wrap aroud your frame, and you know he'll always be there for you.


End file.
